Back in Switzerland - I love it here

[Moto-Charlie]

Thanks to COVID it's been 2 years (Sept 2019) since I've been able to come back and ride. Assuming that COVID is under control in 2022 my little summer tour business will be fully booked and then some. Good excuse to come do some "scouting".

I read Michael's travails on getting from Canada to Tunisia. Compared to his airport experience my trip from Boston to Zurich direct via Swiss International was a piece of cake. I had to fill in an online entry form ahead of time to get into Switzerland, which was fairly straight forward to fill in.

I arrived at Logan International Airport 3 hours ahead of time as suggested by Swiss Air. I was the only person at the ticket counter to check my luggage. They requested my Moderna vaccination certificate, scanned the QR code on my electronic Swiss entry form and that was it. The time it took to go through the TSA security check was the quickest it's ever been - 15 minutes from the time I entered the line until I was putting my shoes on. I ended up reading an e-book on my tablet for 2 hours until boarding.

I was surprised to find the flight was fairly full - maybe 85% - 90% but it took off on time and landed a little early. Given how quickly I got through security in Boston I expected the same to be true for the passport check in Zurich, which usually takes 5 - 10 minutes. I was shocked when I got to the passport area to find a very long line at the non-EU section. Not sure if a lot of planes landed at once or what, but it took almost 45 minutes to get through all crowded together in a zig zag line 2 - 4 feet apart. Didn't seem to be a particularly prudent way to manage the process during the COVID surge but it was what it was. When I got to the passport counter the polite passport agent said hello, scanned my passport, flipped through all the pages with the prior Swiss stamps and wished me happy Holidays. He never asked to see my Swiss entry form.

As for riding - today was day 1 of 11. It was a light day due to jet lag and the need to spend some time getting a COVID Antigen test so that I can enter Italy. America is back on the naughty list as of August 31 due to the surge in cases in the US. Italy now requires all Americans vaccinated or not to have a negative COVID test within 72 hours of entering Italy. Fortunately they accept the Antigen test (I'll have to pay for a PCR test like Michael did to get back into the US). The good news is that the Antigen test is free here and I was able to get it at a pharmacy a 2 minute walk from my hotel. I had the neagtive results with a 1/2 hour on my phone and they even printed a "certificate" for me in Italian - very nice of them.

The weather was overcast with mostly dry roads and about an hour of light rain mixed in - temps around 70F. I rode around the local area near Thun, which is very pretty with some great riding. I'm renting a BMW F900XR, which has plenty of power for the mountains and feels extremely light and flickable compared to my ST1300. I head out for 10 days of exploring tomorrow - planning to ride a fair bit of new roads and see some new things. That's much easier to do when traveling solo. I won't be as wordy for my next posts. I'll post a few pics each day and let them do the talking.

The pics below show one of the green foothills outside Thun, the lake as seen from the Glaubenbielen pass, some excellent Carbonara for dinner and my hotel all lit up at night (building on the left).

I'll try to post some more photos tomorrow depending on whether I have wifi or not.

 

[mortenk]

Enjoy your rides. Looks awesome!

 

[robotdog]

I'm renting a BMW F900XR, which has plenty of power for the mountains and feels extremely light and flickable compared to my ST1300.

Hey Charlie, I have the 2020 version as my primary bike. It is a great bike with lots of power, great ergos, fantastic clocks (TFT) and superb handling. Hope you enjoy it on your stay as much as I enjoy it riding around TX. Anxious to hear your thoughts about how it does in its near native environment.

 

[ChucksKLRST]

I am very very jealous. My passport is in for renewal (18 weeks time frame) so getting back to Europe this year is not going to happen. I guess I will have to be satisfied riding the Colorado Rockies.

 

[Al Gully]

Those pictures make me wanna go there. Reminds me of the province that I live in.
Have an enjoyable trip in those twisties.

 

[CYYJ]

Hi Charlie:

I'll be in Switzerland tomorrow night (Sunday night). I'm on board the ferry in Tunis harbour right now (it is supposed to sail half an hour ago), in theory it will arrive at Genoa Sunday around noon, and if all goes well, I should cross into Switzerland Sunday night.

Where will you be Sunday night & Monday night? Maybe we can meet up for dinner. If you are headed down towards Italy, perhaps we can meet at a halfway point between Thun and Genoa.

Michael

 

[Moto-Charlie]

So, long days and poor wifi conspired to keep me from posting any updates. I'm guessing it will be easier to post each day as a separate post. I appreciate the replies to my first post from Friday.

I'm sorry I missed Michael (@CYYJ). We had gone a little too far past each other and we were heading in the opposite direction, so best wishes to each for a safe ride via email had to suffice. I hope to meet him and ride together at some point in the future.

My Saturday ride on the 11th got truncated a bit for a fortuitous get together with a couple that I met a few years back in Beatenberg, on the moutains overlooking Interlaken. I frequently ride up that way when I arrive a day or two ahead of my tour members. The couple were eating at the same restaurant I stopped at for lunch, we struck up a conversation, they spoke good English and traveled extensively including the US. They are usually away during the summer, but due to COVID they were at home in Zurich. The offered to drive by car down to Thun to meet me for lunch - so I stayed in town, had a pleasant early lunch with them by the Thun Lake and then headed out on the bike around 1PM.

I wanted to go south from Interlaken so I headed for Andermatt Switzerland, which is an area well known to motorcyclists for it's great collection of 6 - 7 classic alpine passes all within a short distance of Andermatt.

It was a weekend day and the weather as great, so the bikers and everyone else were out in force. I opted to go over the Grimsel Pass first. Nice smooth tar all the way from the direction of Innertkichen to the top of the Grimsel. It was quite crowded (as far as the top of passes go). There is a fairly large open parking area at the top by the small lake there - the Totensee. Yamaha was offering test rides there. They had 6 - 8 models available. Several other vendors also had small displays like Motul and Pirelli. This is perhaps the 3rd time in the last 10 years that I've seen Yamaha offering test rides up in the passes around Andermatt.

I was a bit behind schedule so I opted to forgo a test ride. I would have tried for the Niken or the Tracer 9. I rode down the other side of the Grimsel and then headed straight up the Furka Pass, perhaps my favorite pass in the Andermatt area. The Grimsel side offers great views looking back at the Grimsel. Once over the top and heading down the Andermatt side the views are pretty wild and untamed looking. This is my favorite direction to ride this pass.

Once at the bottom it is only about a 5 minute ride before you start heading up the Gotthard Pass. This pass is a major north south route over the Alps - so it's wide with lots of free flowing sweepers as opposed to switchbacks. Most of the serious traffic looking to make time takes the Gotthard tunnel under the pass. Contrarians like me tend to go to the top of the Gotthard and peel off to take the original Gotthard Pass known as the Tremola Road down to the bottom in Airolo in the southern Italian section of Switzerland. There is very little traffic on the Tremola Road because it's all cobblestone. It's therefore a bit bumpy, and very slick if you do it in the rain, which I don't recommend. By the time I went down it was around 5:30PM and I was thinking I should start looking for a hotel, so I only took a quick photo from the seat of the bike. I've got some from prior trips, which I'll dig out and post in a couple of days.

As it turned out my search for a hotel took around 10 phone calls because all the Swiss weekend tourists were soaking up all the hotel rooms in any of the popular regions. So I picked a smaller town away from the main tourist areas and found a nice simple Swiss hotel in Bascia. All's well that end well.

As for the pics posted below, they mostly involve the Grimsel Pass. The first one shows my bike with the Grimsel See (an artificial hydro dam lake) in the background. I've posted a couple of the Yamaha event at the top plus one photo of the new Triumph Rocket 3, which I've never seen in the wild.

There is a picture of the Grimsel Pass taken from the Furka Pass. You can see the Grimsel road snaking up the mountain off the right side of my handlebar. Off the right side of my mirror along the edge of the picture is a small cloud at the top of the Grimsel. The Yamaha event was taking place under that cloud marker. The last photo is a quick one of the Tremalo Road.

 

[Moto-Charlie]

Not sure I have the hang of posting full photos vs thumbnails. I'm trying to post thumbnails, but think I'm inadvertently doing both.

One of my main goals on this trip is to ride out of the way places to see if any of them are suitable for adding to my tour routes. In particular I'm looking to ride high up into the mountains to check out several major hydro dams and the lakes they create. Switzerland has a bunch of them and a half dozen or so are over 2,000 meters high, the height of many of the well known passes. Plus you get a lake at the top, sometimes a restaurant and the views and the feel of the ride are always different when you go in the opposite direction to come back down, be it a pass or a dead end vally road.

My goal for today was Lago del Naret. I was planning to stay in Ascona on Lago Maggiore. I don't usually go for the hustle and bustle of a major tourist area like Maggiore, but I figured I'd give it a try and it was also close to the start of the road that leads to Naret.

The lake is about 60kms (36 miles) from Ascona. The first 27 miles or so were through average countryside with small villages (lots of slowing down to 50km/30mph for these villages) industrial areas, etc. I was beginning to think that perhaps this ride would be a disappointment.

Then I hit the first of several dams and lakes that would ultimately lead up to the final dam at 2,300 meters - higher than most of the passes in the Andermatt area. Apparently most of the traffice stops at the first dam. There is a picnic area and place to park. The road narrows here and runs alongside the lake created by the dam. It took another 9 miles of climbing on a narrow, frequently bumpy road with several sections of really tight switchbacks to reach the top.

It reminded me of the expression "the juice was worth the squeeze" because the views from the top were spectacular. At the end of the day I'm not sure I would bring my average tour up here. They are almost always experienced riders but some have more experience than others. Big tour bikes like the BMW RTs or K1600s would be a lot of work on this road - doable but with lots of care.

The first pic shows the first dam reached. You can see the ongoing road to the right. Lago Naret was way off in the distance almost at the top of the mountains you see way off in the background.

The next pic shows the final dam that holds the water for Naret. I rode up the road on the right and then over the dam. The next pic is taken from the top of the dam looking back at the road I had come up. The prior picture of the dam was taken right at near the far most edge of the lake below. There is also another photo of the bike taken with the lake immediately below the dam in the background.

After going over the dam I rode about a 1/3 of a mile along a hard packed bumpy gravel road as far as I could go to get to the other end of Naret. There is a photo of the bike at that end.

On the way back down I stopped to take a picture of the lower first dam lake (seen in the "V" of the moutains in the lower right) where the fun part of the climb really started. It was a fun ride. The last photo shows where I had dinner in Ascona under the canopy on the right of the pic. Being the Italian section of Switzerland the spaghetti carbonara was pretty good.

I'll post more tomorrow.

 

[Weaselinsuit]

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing!

 

[Esti1300]

Spectacular!!! Thanks for taking us along… next time for real though

 

[Moto-Charlie]

Day 4 - Sept 13. I was really looking forward to this day because the goal was to ride up the Colle del Nivolet. I was thinking this would be the highlight ride of my 11 days here. The pass sits at 2,641 meters, which would make it the 8th highest paved pass in the Alps. However, it dead ends about a mile over the other side and is closed to vehicular traffic. Hikers might be able to go down the other side but that's about it.

I have never ridden this pass before because it is really out of the way. Usually you can link 3 - 6 passes a day along a riding route, but this one almost requires a special trip. Part of my "scouting" on this Alp's visit was to determine if the pass was as good as I hoped and what a viable route might be.

I learned 2 things today. The route via Ascona to Nivolet was a definite no-go and the Colle itself was spectacular - another case where the juice was double definitely worth the squeeze.

I stay off the highways as much as possible, so I plotted a route of 251 kms from Ascona south along the left hand western side of Lago Maggiore and then picked a route that looked squiggly on the map to get me over to Ivrea, which would be the start of the dead end valley road that would take me to Nivolet.

I took a morning walk down to the lake to check it out in the daylight and to get some Euros from a bancomat (ATM machine). The ride along Lago Maggiore was pretty, but slow going as it is heavily populated with hotels, villages, restaurants, etc so the speed limits were frequently 50kms/30 mph. The lake is 66 kms (36 miles) long and took me 2 hours to traverse. I stopped for a pizza lunch at the end before heading inland.

My route planning mistake at this point was in not checking the topography of my squiggly route. It turns out the area north of Turin is mostly flat, very flat. I road for periods of time where I didn't even see a hill in the distance, let alone a moutain. Lots of towns, villages, industrial areas and hundreds of roundabouts. Also temps close to 90F.

Eventually I got to Ivrea and began the 50 mile ride up the valley road. I arrived outside my hotel in Ceresole Reale around 5:30PM. The hotel is 13 miles from the top of the pass. I checked the weather forecast, which said cloudy and rainy for tomorrow. I took a quick look at the webcam about 2/3 of the way up the pass. It was clouding up but still visible so I decided to head up the pass.

There was very little traffic and I made good time. The road started climbing right after my hotel. The road was a good 2-lane road and in very good condition all the way to the top. When I arrived above the treeline the clouds were coming in so I opted to go to the top so I could see the view before it fully clouded in. I'd take pictures on the way down if the clouds didn't obscure the view.

To me all the Alps passes are good in their own way, some clearly better or more spectacular - so I don't have a lot of "favorites" - but I would have to say the Colle del Nivolet is now one of my top 3 favorites. I'm sorry it took me so long to get here. The climb up is great and the views are some of the best there are. From the top you see the road winding its way up for quite a distance along with the several lakes and dams you pass along the way. You're surrounded by mountains an all sides. It doesn't get any better than Nivolet if you like high mountain passes.

Unfortunatey the clouds were closing in by the time I reached the top, so not a lot of opportunity for panoramic photos. I was concerned I might get caught in fog, but I was able to ride back down without issue.

As for pictures - the first 3 are of Lago Maggiore - the area where I had dinner, an elevated part of the route along the lake and then my pizza lunch. I don't normally take pictures of my food - but I am doing so on this trip to give comfort to my family back home that I am eating outside as much as possibe in these COVID times.

I wish the weather had allowed me to take better pictures of Nivolet to share but I've posted a few that I did take. The first one shows the pass marker at the top and the 2nd one shows the other side where the pass dead ends just at the far edge of the second little lake. The 3rd photo was taken about 300 feet down from the top and shows my concern for getting fogged in. The 4th photo hopefully gives some idea of what the view is like through the clouds. The final photo was taken on the way back down, just below the clouds, approx 1/3 of the way up the pass. With all those twisty roads below you can imagine what the other 2/3 of the pass above this photo is like.

Lastly, I've tried to insert a quick video link from my Google Drive taken with my cell phone. Colle del Nivolet (looks better in full screen mode if possible)

 

[Alberto]

Beatiful pictures, thanks)

 

[s-wiss t-om]

Hi charlie
Thanks for your report and pictures. So have a good time, nice roads and the typical Europe Wether in September. All the best and so I hope we can meet on one of your last days in andermatt or Realp.
Your friend in Switzerland, Thomas

 

[drrod]

It is the smaller, lesser known roads/passes that are some of the best. A Val Gardena local took led us on a day ride. I lost track of how many small, one/one and a half lane "passes" we rode but by the end of the day, I was tired. Exhilarated, but tired!!
Many of them have small restaurants/hostels at the top like this.

 

[Moto-Charlie]

Thanks to everyone for your comments and likes. As you may have inferred from my mutiple posts today I am in the same place for two nights. The original plan was to stay in Courmayeur for a day so I could ride the Skyway Monte Bianco cable car, Italy's answer to the Aguille du Midi cable car in Chamonix that goes up close to the top of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps. Courmayeur is on the back side of Mont Blanc and a fancy tunnel connects it to Chamonix. Unfortunately there was heavy rain, thunderstorms and solid low cloud cover, so no cable car ride today. Instead I did in-room laundry, walked around the town and worked on catching up on various correspondence matters.

Not much to report on for yesterday and today. Sometimes scouting is about checking into logistics, routing etc. and is sometimes devoid of much to see.

Yesterday was a case in point. The goal was to backtrack down the Nivolet valley road and work my way up the Aosta Valley road, which is the main non-highway route through the Aosta Valley. Along the way I took about a 2 1/2 hour detour to ride up the valley road to Breuil Cervina, which sits in Italy on the back side of the Matterhorn. This could be a good base to overnight coming from Switzerland over the Grand St. Bernard Pass on the way to Colle del Nivolet. They are also in the process of building the highest horizontally traveling cable car in the Alps, which will connect Cervina directly to the highest cable car station in the Alps at Klein Matterhorn, currently only accessible from Zermatt. I wanted to check out Cervina, look at some hotels I had researched and get a general lay of the land. I had hoped to get a picture of the Matterhorn from here, but while the roads were dry the mountains were clouded in, so I settled for a picture of my lunch.

Once I saw the rain today I figured there would be nothing much to report on while staying in town. I generally eat a light lunch or a strudel and espresso - so around 1PM I researched good pastry shops and headed into the old town to find my chosen pasticceria. I had to walk by some sort of event setup to get to it, which I assumed was something due to happen on the weekend. I sat down at the basically empty shop and gazed out at the skyline and closed sun umbrellas. By the time I finished my pastry and coffee people were gathering at the event setup.

As fate would have it I had chosen a time and place to eat that coincided with the end of one of the TorX events. Turns out there are 4 different running races every year that take place on the trails around the Aosta Valley. They begin and end in Courmayeur. The races range from 450 kms to 30 kms (270 miles to 18 miles) and range from low valley runs up to trails at 3,000 meters or higher. Foul weather is a major danger as the races can last from 1 day to 6 days depending on length. The racers have check-in points but are self guided based on GPS devices they get from the organizers as part of their entry fee.

I happened to be there when the winner of the 330 km (198 mile) race came over the finish line. It took him 4 days and he had been running all day in the rain - quite a feat.

As for pics I have attached 2 from Cervina showing everything clouded in except for one small local peak and a pic of my carbonara.

There are 4 pics from today showing the view from my pastry table, then 2 of the race winner and one of the ramp he ran up to claim his win. I'll be on the road tomorrow and hopefully the weather will be more conducive to photo taking. Not sure though as the forecast calls for rain - we'll see.

 

[Moto-Charlie]

Hey Charlie, I have the 2020 version as my primary bike. It is a great bike with lots of power, great ergos, fantastic clocks (TFT) and superb handling. Hope you enjoy it on your stay as much as I enjoy it riding around TX. Anxious to hear your thoughts about how it does in its near native environment.

You sound like a BMW motorcycle sales person - just kidding

I've been renting the various BMW vertical twin series bikes now for many years when I'm riding solo in the Alps. As you note the F900XR has more than enough power, handles really well and is light enough that I can push it to turn around or pick it up if it falls over - so I don't have to worry too much about exploring a dead road or riding over packed gravel roads like I did at the top of Lake Naret. I would not have taken a RT that last 1/2 mile especially on a short section that had gotten washed out in a little dip just before I parked it. I had to stand up on the pegs to get over it as I bounced up and down. I would have ground out on my ST1300.

So for me it's a great Alps bike. It's got enough weather protection to keep the worst of the weather off you, better than the F900R or F750GS (which I also like). I've done a couple of quick 10 minute spurts on the highway to get around some local congestion. It was OK at 80 mph or so but I wouldn't want to do that for any extended period of time. If I owned one I would immediately replace the seat as I personally find it very uncomfortable for multiple all-day rides, even with the Airhawk I brought with me.

The only other issue I've had is that for some reason, when my right boot rests on the peg it lightly touches on the brake pedal. Perhaps it is the shape of the my boot heel - never had that issue before. The offshoot is that I was getting a brake bulb failure warning and also the bike would intermittenty slow down significantly if I pulled in the clutch to shift, etc. The rental dealer theorizes that the light pressure on the pedel without any real force is confusing the electrical system into thinking there is a problem with the bulb. The constant pressure may also be causing the disks/brakes to heat up and expand, causing the dragging when the clutch is in. They tell me the rear brake pedal is non-adjustable for height. In any case I simply have to remember to point my right foot out and away from the brake pedal or keep my foot on the ball of my foot, which I do anyway in the twisties and the problem has not reocurred since.

I would rent it again without hesitation. I'm glad to hear you enjoy yours. It's a nice bike.

 

[robotdog]

You sound like a BMW motorcycle sales person - just kidding

I'm not a BMW Salesman, but I do play one on TV.... not really. Just a big fan of the bike.
I use it mainly to ride around here in Texas....anything that is a single day or less. Which limits me to mainly Texas. Anything longer will be on the ST1300, when it is 100%.

I've taken the F900 off road in Big Bend and have done a SaddleSore 1000 on it as well (all in Texas). There really isn't anything that it can't do competently, well at least as far as I care to go. ;-)

As for the complaints, I am OK with the windage at 80+ (better than some other's I've owned). The adjustable windscreen helps a lot. However, I do hear you regarding the brake lever, it is just too close and too sensitive. It has a tendancy to "abruptly" *ahem* cancel the cruise control unexpectedly. So like you I just have learned to reposition that foot. It is a well known complaint.

And the last of the hijack.... the White version is the best color IMO.

Thanks for the feedback

 

[robotdog]

replace the seat as I personally find it very uncomfortable for multiple all-day rides,

And yes, that seat sucks...especially after 4+ hours. My all day SS1k was so bad, I didn't ride for a couple of weeks. ;-)

 

[Moto-Charlie]

And yes, that seat sucks...especially after 4+ hours. My all day SS1k was so bad, I didn't ride for a couple of weeks. ;-)

It is a pretty versatile bike. It has slightly taller suspension than the roadster version, which gives a good view of traffic and allows for some light offroading without comprising sport riding on pavement.

I hear you about the couple of weeks recuperation. My butt appreciated the day off from riding yeterday.

 

[s-wiss t-om]

Hi there
Here is a YT link to a favorite of Moto Charlie.
Every year I'm there 3 weeks as a cook at the Furka Steam Railway and ride the Furka Pass several times. Me and Charlie like it.
Furkapass, Switzerland
Does it work?